Dental instrument



Aug. 23, 19490 R D. SILVERSTEIN DENTAL INSTRUMENT Filed April 14, 1948 I INVENTOR,

-- PUB/N D. 5/1 VERSTE/A/ ATTOQNEY Patented Au 23, 1949 UNITED star PATENT oer ICE;

DEN-TALL INSTRUMENT Rul'rirr H: S ilverstein; York; I.

ApplicationzApnil; 14, 1948;, Serial No; 21,015,

(C12 NE -215) 10 Claiins.

This-invention relates to. aninstrumentnand.

more. pazticnlarlm, is, concerned: with dentalinstr-uments.

It is an. objacttof my inyention; toprpyidaa dental instrument, which, is: adantedetomaskl the entry pain: of a hypodermicneedle; in the. mout It is a, more specific, object of my invention to provide adental; instrument. which. is i adaptedto mask the entr y pain of, ahypodermic needle, in the palate;

Itis another object of: the invention: tolproyide a, dental instrument which, in: additiomto; masking the pain of insertion of a hypodermicneedle. can, be. withdrawn, from, the; site of theimection While-themeedle still lslimhedded.

Other objects, of-.. my invention will ill-part, be obviousand, in part. will: he. pointed out: hereinafter;

invention. accordingly, ccnsistsl in the: features: of: construction; combinations; of; elements and arrangement of parts; whichiwiill be. exemplifled intthe construction;hereinaftendescribedzand of; which the sccneot applicatiomwilkbez indicated in the appendedzolaimsi 1112 the accompanying drawings inwlzich; is shownl onev of. the various;v possible: embodiments of:rny-invention:

Fig, 1; is a; perspective View of, aederrtalcinstrument constructed in accordance withemye inventioniand-showns'asjt appearsginluse;

Fig. 2: is an enlarged; fragmentamsideview, of theginstrument; at thesitaofyan inflection;

Fig, 3, isa,sectionalview taken: substantially aiongthe line-3-3 cf Fig.2 and;

Fig, his a side.-view;of said-instrument.

Referring now" in; detaileto; the dltawings, the" referenoenumeraki c, denotesadentaleinstrument embodying, my invention; said! installment: comprises a long straighthandle IQ having;an;integra'kelonga'ted foot: i4 atlwhosetipitherezispermanently' afiixed as by Welding, arr appmm mately spherical ball or: head 16,- of: abmit. fie" diameter, which is considenahlyalargerthan (at least about. twice asilarge as): the diametenrof the foot. Said head is 'formeda withaa straight through opening t8 Whose longitudinal: axis: is disposed at an angl'em to the longitudinal?- axis of the-handle, Pursuant tony-invention, .thisiangle does not exceed, and piteferablyisg about-60;

In the formof the invention illustrated herein, with which highly satisfactory: results are cbtained, the longitudinal axis of the -opening I8 157 perpendicular tothelongitudina' t axisof the foot M and the" longitudinal axis of saiw'fcot is disposed at an angle of approximately 30*"t'o-the lbngitudihal axis oi the handle. 12:. H e e it Will. be, understood that it, is withinthe scope of my, invention to. have. the foot. l4; form a straight lineextensionof, the handle 12'. In such case the longitudlnal'axi's of the opening lflfiisarrange diat anangle. of, about 60. or less to th longitudinal axis. of said? foot; nd. theref'oraat the S me in- .clinationto. thel'ongitudinal axis, ofihehandle l2. The bcad Iifi also,,is p rovidcd with a bottomless sl'Q'fL .211 whifih, parallel to. the longitudinal axis of the, opening, IR and extendsv over the entire lengthoff saidlopening tothe outside of thebead, thereby defining, astraight'passageway from said opening to; the, extericrl of the b ad. All lower portionsof-thebead surrounding the opening and the. slot',,i. enalllportions, which will' contact; the

skininuse, are 'slightly rounded.

'Ilo. use the, instrument, the same is manipulated, to. place one endTof-t he, opening f8" against ,asit'e on the hardpalate where an injection'is tLQhe made. A typical" position, of theinstrument is shown in Fig, 1 Due to. the inclination between the longitudinali axis ofthe opening and thel'ongitudinal' axisv of the handle and to the natural configurationofthe hard; palate, when the instrument ispla'ced on any'spoton the hard palate with the end ofrth'e opening; against the patients flesh, the i longitudinal axis of the op ening can: be arranged to pass through the patients mouth. Thatis tosay; this longitudinal axiswill he so oriented that itwill pass-between- -thepatientslips: l

The instrument is manipul'ated to pness-the bead IF against'thepalate hand enough to-cause a slight pressure pain. Inasmuch a the hard palate is comparatively firm; thebead Willi not sink into the sai'ne to appreciablyrstitetchithe skin of the palate However, the-pressure causes a paizrwhich is extremelpf'looalized duetmthe small area of GOIlttCthbGtWGEm the portion of the head around theopenihg and the palate; Ihaue found that/the ner-vous system of the hard palate: is such that this pressure willmask the: pain, of entry oi a hypodermicneedle,althoughiiffthe inr strument is manipulated in: the samewayson. the

external skin' of a-user it will not function in" the samemanner:

with the instrument soapositioned: andzpnessing against the palate, thepoi'nt'- of a-liypcdecmic 5o--needle- 211 is thrust-- throughthe opening is: and

inserted into the palate as illustrated in Riga 2. *It wiil: be observed that the longitudinal. axis of the hypodermic syringe 2'5. and needle coincide with the longitudinal axis; ofrjthe openingz liB,

55 andmecause tha-l'ongitudinalaaxis: ofz-saidzopening tudinal axis of said handle.

passes between the lips of the patient, it is comparatively simple to properly dispose the syringe so as to insert the needle through said opening.

As soon as the needle is inserted, discharge of the hypodermic may be started. This discharge normally takes a substantial period of time, i. e. from one to three minutes. However, the instrument ill need not be held in the patients mouth all this time. Rather, at, ortimmediately after, injection begins, the instrument is removed by shifting the bead in such direction that the slot 20 slides over the hypodermic needle. Thereupon.

the instrument can be removed from the mouth.,

Such procedure frees one of the dentists hands,

and enables the patient to close his mouth somewhat.

Attention is directed to the of the slot 20 is less than the diameter of the opening l8, thereby causing a major portion of the palate surrounding the site of the injection tobe subjected to a masking pain.

It thus will be seen that Ihave provided an inf strument which achieves the several objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth,

it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense, but any permissible change must fall within the purview of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A dental instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around. the site of a hypodermic injection in the hard palate in order to mask the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising an approximately spherical bead having a straight diametrical opening there- 7 through and anelongated handle connected to said bead, the longitudinal axis of said handle -beingdisposed at an angle not exceeding 60" to the longitudinal axis of said opening.

7 2 A dental instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around the site of a hypodermic injection in the'hard palate in order to mask the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight opening therethrough, and an elongated handle con- 1 nected to said bead, the longitudinal axis of said one end to the handle and at the other end to the head, the longitudinal aXis of said foot being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said opening, and at an angle of about 30 to the longi- 4. A dental instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around the site of a hypodermic injection in the hard palate in order to mask 7 the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight .opening therethrough, an elongated handle and an elongated foot, said foot being connected at fact that the width one end to the handle and at the other end to the bead, the longitudinal axis of said foot being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said opening, and at an angle of at least 30 to the longitudinal axis of said handle.

5. A dental instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around the site of a hypodermic injection in the hard palate in order to mask the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight opening therethrough and an elongated handle connected to said bead, the longitudinal axis of said handle being disposed at an angle not exceeding 60 to the longitudinal axis of said opening, said bead havinga bottomless slot extending over the entire length of said opening to the exterior of the bead-said slot being straight and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the opening.

' 6. A dental instrument adapted to cause a.

pressure pain around'the site of a hypodermic injection inthe hard palate in order to mask the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight "opening therethrough and an elongated handle connected to said bead, the longitudinal axis of said handle being disposed at an angle not exceeding 60 to the longitudinal axis of said opening, said head having a bottomless slot extending over the entire length of said opening to the exterior of the bead, said slot being straight and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the opening,

the width of said slot being less than the diameter of said opening.

7. A dental instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around the site of a hypodermic injection in the hard palate in order to mask 'the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight opening therethrough, an elongated handle and an elongated foot, said foot being connected at one end to the handle and at the other end to the head, the longitudinal axis of said foot being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said opening, and at an angle of at least 30 to the longitudinal axis of said handle, said bead having a bottomless slot extending over the entire length of said opening to the exterior of the bead, said slot being straight and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the opening.

8. A dental instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around the site of a hypodermic injection in the hard palate in order to mask the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight opening therethrough, an elongated handle and an elongated foot, said foot being connected at one'end'to the handle and at the other end to the bead, the longitudinal axis of said foot being "perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said opening, and at an angle of at least 30 to the longitudinal axis of said handle, said bead having a bottomless slot extending over the entire length of said opening to the exterior of the bead, said slot being'straight and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the opening, the width of said slot being lessthan the diameter of said opening.

9. An instrument adapted to cause a pressure pain around the site of a hypodermic injection in order. to mask the pain of entry of a hypodermic needle, said instrument comprising a bead having a straight opening therethrough and a bottomless slot extending over the entire length of said opening to the exterior of the bead, said slot being straight and parallel to the longitudinal axis of-the opening.

10. An instrument adapted to cause a pressure REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 5 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 982,931 Bridger Jan. 31, 1911 2,044,410 Thornberry a June 16, 1936 

